The Wild One
by AuthorSwimmerPoet
Summary: This the story of a druid, rogue and a centaur.
1. Chapter 1

Trina The Wild One

Chapter 1

Wanted…Dead

The knight swung gracefully from his saddle, "Who are you?"

Trina looked up at him defiantly. "I might ask you the same question." She didn't like people thinking they could just barge in and take charge. It wasn't their place to control her. She was a free woman and practically had been since birth. She had lived with Mentor because she was obligated to because of Mentor's decency to raise her, but that didn't mean she wasn't free if she wanted to be. Mentor had never laid any more claim on her once she could take care of herself.

The knight cupped her chin in one of his gauntleted hands. Trina glared angrily into his icy blue eyes. "You being a mere commoner will not take that kind of tone with me. I am the one in charge here not you, you puny imp."

Trina snorted, "I'm not a commoner," She stood straighter, prouder, "and I am most certainly under your jurisdiction. I don't belong to this village in any way. I am only here because I have to be. I am a druid and I would much rather be," She glanced at the pathetic hovels around her, "elsewhere."

The knight's eyes widened in surprise, "You dare show yourself here?" he spat, "You and all your kind bring destruction, you are not part of the natural world. Leave now or we will hang you. Choose now you pathetic beast. What do you value your life or your name?" His mouth twisted into an angry snarl.

Trina watched him calmly brushing dust from her furs. "You Solmanic Knights always were cocky. I am so grateful that I was saved from dealing with your kind before now." She smiled rather smugly. "I can't believe you think you can control me. You and your pathetic lies, I am more part of the natural world than you could ever be, what did you think my magic dealt with, you fool."

A guard from the wall suddenly cried out, "Draconian! Draconian! Bar the Gates!"

Trina growled angrily. Draconian were monsters created for evil and she couldn't wait to destroy some. Besides this knight obviously wasn't competent enough to truly deal with anything when left to his own devices.

The knight leapt for the stairs, hoping to gain an advantage from the top of the wall. Trina dashed for the gate. All she needed was a loose slat.

Luckily for her the gate was ill made, either that or simply old, but she was more inclined to believe the former, judging by the state of the rest of the village. Slats hung loosely in many places, and they hardly looked weathered, so it seemed mostly to be the maker's fault.

There would be plenty of spaces for her to jam her weapon in and shoot. She would even have a choice of places to get the best shot. She ripped away one of the splintered slats. It was the perfect place.

She pulled her crossbow from her back and quickly fitted it with a bolt. Time to make some heads roll. She shoved the crossbow through the gap and chose a target. She pulled the trigger.

The bolt flew straight and true, smashing into the dead center of the skull of Trina's chosen draconian. The draconian fell to the ground twitching but the arrow flew on, hardly even slowed after jamming through the first draconian skull. It slammed a second draconian into a tree. The draconian struggled trying to free itself. Blood spurted everywhere. Slowly the creature's thrashing slowed.

Meanwhile, Trina had already obliterated several more draconian. Each in a different and equally gruesome way. Soon all of the draconian were on the ground either dead or dying.

Trina collapsed against the wall breathing heavily. It always drained her to fight multiple enemies in such a manner. She glanced over and saw the knight once more at her side. Trina raised her eyebrow, "Well?" She asked only slightly breathless.

"Impressive bow work, I've never seen someone reload a crossbow so quickly. Your skill has even outdone _some_ of my men." Then he scoffed, "Pity you're a druid and obtained your skills from darkness. We could have really used one with your skills on our wall, but of course, we don't accept workers of darkness in our ranks."

Trina rolled her eyes. "At least I'm not a pompous prig of a knight. I don't know how you can stand to be in the same village with yourself. It just doesn't seem possible that someone could really be that self-centered."

"Your irritation will shortly mean very too little to anyone. Especially you." The knight answered rather angrily.

"Oh and how is that?" She gestured having a rope tighten around her neck, "Think you're going to get away with hanging me? You can't possibly be the only law keeper in this pathetic dredge of a town."

"I charge you to death by hanging. You are a danger to our society." The knight answered with a very indistinct tremor in his voice.

Trina smiled amused, "Oh and what's that? The word of pigheaded knight how cute that you think you can actually punish me. I don't see how that could be possible." She gazed about her coolly, "It's lucky for you that I have unfinished business in this town. Or you would never see me to the gallows. But that's exactly where I want to go."

"Do not mock me!" The knight growled angrily. He grabbed her arm angrily. "I'll see you hanged hag!"

Trina let the knight drag her away. She behaved quite placidly, simply letting him drag her along. The plan was working out quite nicely. She knew that she was not going to die so why not let him have his fun? Besides this is what Mentor had seen, this is what had to be done.

Trina stood and calmly let the noose tighten around her neck. She was completely confident in Mentor. She would not die this day. The knight was so angry the noose hardly allowed her to breath but she would not die.

In the next instant the planking dropped. Before the rope could hold her properly and swing her through the air like a prize, a knife snapped the rope. Trina fell to the ground. She crouched for a moment in the darkened space under the gallows. She was climbing out in another moment and was soon running for the gate.

Trina allowed her legs to propel her fast than she had ever run before. The rogue however was much faster. The rogue gave Trina the briefest of nods before her legs carried her past the gate. Everything was happening just as Mentor had said it would. The plan was flawless.

Trina reached the gate a moment later. She stopped for a moment. She turned back to face the town. "Idiots!" She called, "Try to capture Trina Bal'hamori and you'll only be disappointed! Good day to you! You should pray we never meet again!"

Her feet leapt once more in the direction of the forest. Suddenly Trina was grabbed from behind. A gloved hand clamped down on Trina's mouth to silence any cry.

Trina struggled. She hated being manhandled. After a moment of scuffling about and useless fighting she stopped. At least she was still headed towards the forest. The forest was the one place you did not want to meet Trina. It was the only place she had never lost a fight. Besides, Trina already had a fair idea of who had captured her and she wasn't particularly worried. She was pretty sure that this capture would only aid her in the end.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Kaiya-The Savior

Trina was pushed to the ground with a thump. Her captor turned to face her angrily. Trina smiled as she recognized her. It was the rogue who had saved her. She had suspected as much naturally, but the idea was rather funny, to think of a rogue, who would normally only look out for their own person, saving a druid's life.

"Thank you," Trina said rather smugly as the rogue opened her mouth to speak.

The rogue's mouth snapped shut and her scowl darkened. She overcame her anger a moment later enough to say, "I didn't do it for your sake. I did it because I have to. I don't even like you. Okay? I'm bound by my own principles to help. That's the only reason."

Trina's grin widened as she pulled a knife from within her tunic. "This knife," she began casually, "has an interesting symbol on it. A very unique symbol in fact. It's only carried by one person in the world. The symbol is found on the knives and daggers of Kaiya the Hidden One; no one has ever caught her. No one actually even knows her name for sure. The one thing everyone knows is that she frees those who are unjustly charged. You're Kaiya and you saved me. I am now in your debt I suppose." Trina tossed the knife into the air for Kaiya to catch.

Kaiya looked stunned by Trina's deduction but she managed to catch the knife without slicing off a finger. She tucked the knife away and began to chuckle. "You got all of that from a knife? I'm rather impressed." She gave Trina a shrewd look with her head tucked. "I wonder then, do you know why I freed you and then capture you?"

Trina shrugged. Mentor had said it would be like this, she only had to follow through with Mentor's vision. She was not going to let her home be destroyed! "I figured it was some part of your scheme. I was told the person who helped me would stop my execution would possibly be able to help me in my mission, but they didn't say that you would capture me. If I had to venture a guess it would be that you wanted me to know for sure who I was working with."

"Well that clearly wasn't necessary, you figured me out from a knife." Kaiya answered with a laugh. "You're pretty smart for a druid. I mean in human ways, I know you guys are supposed to be all smart with the animals and whatnot."

Trina laughed. "You thought I would be stupid about human things? That's such a common misconception. Druids are always misinterpreted that way it seems. I don't see why living in the forest and learning from it makes you stupid of human ways. Humans are actually pretty predictable when you really consider it."

Kaiya huffed. "You druids really are strange. Rogues don't need any sort of smarts besides what we learn on the streets and I've known a few who manage quite even without much of that." Kaiya's eyes began to flash almost angrily. "Rogues work just as hard as a druid does, if we're to be any good at our art though." Her eyes glinted dangerously. "And I am very good at what I do."

Each of the girl's heads whipped around suddenly as they heard a strange crashing noise from deep within the woods. Animals were abruptly clattering and chittering loudly throughout the forest running away from the sound with shrieks of terror.

Trina felt ready to run herself. She could even sense the wolves running from the source of the noise, and the wolves were all the last standing in the forest's defense.

Kaiya knelt beside Trina fear and urgency apparent on her face. "Can you tell what it is druid?" Her hands twitched and the next instant had drawn knives from somewhere in her clothing.

Trina glanced at Kaiya knowing she should try to seem brave. Kaiya definitely looked braver than Trina felt. Something glinted in her eyes. _Fear. If even one brave enough to turn the law on its head is scared, this beast must be terrible in deed. Gods help us, what is crawling from the deep pits of the world to attack us?_

Birds started screeching and fluttering in panic, from the trees just over their heads. Clearly the monster was getting closer. Trina called to an eagle hoping that it wouldn't simply fly away from her. She needed to know more about this danger. "Winged-brother what stalks the forest?"

_"One of the Unbreathing."_ The eagle didn't even pause to check its flight as it darted through the sky trying to reach safety.

"What did it say?" Kaiya asked nervously adjusting her light leather armor.

Trina squinted into the distance trying to spot anything through the trees, not really attending to the conversation. "That thing coming at us is one of the Unbreathing."

"Unbreathing?" Kaiya asked swallowed uncomfortably. Nothing could bode well for them with a name like that.

Trina ignored her focused completely on the magic she was trying to complete. She hoped she could finish in time. She didn't think they were strong enough to face one of the Unbreathing on their own.

Kaiya put a hand on Trina's shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Trina blinked and brushed Kaiya's hand away. Her magic was done; help would hopefully arrive soon enough to actually aid them in the coming battle. Her magic had never failed her before.

"Well?" Kaiya asked impatiently. She started fiddling with her knives, wondering a little idly if a knife in the ribs would serve to awaken Trina from her strange inattentive stupor.

Finally Trina turned to Kaiya and held her gaze for a few moments before speaking. "I was a calling a dragon." She answered matter-of-factly.

Kaiya gaped. She hadn't even known dragons could be controlled to that extent. She was also frightened; she didn't think she could ever trust a dragon fighting on her side.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Danger

Trina couldn't help but gape as suddenly one of the trees in front of them was uprooted and tossed aside with a crash. An ogre was standing where the tree had been only moments before. It had pasty skin; the color reminded Trina of a maggot, the foulest of all things that had ever bothered to crawl the earth. Its eyes were blank and staring. Trina finally realized what the eagle had meant by the Unbreathing. The ogre was one of the Undead.

"Disgusting." Kaiya said her face displaying her revulsion at the creature.

Trina laughed. She realized that it was a laugh in death's face and almost stopped, but though it was a strange thought, she wasn't afraid of death.

The ogre came closer a jarring thump running through Trina's body with every step. Trina and Kaiya shared a final glance before the ogre was upon them.

A pasty hand was swinging towards Trina and before she could react she found herself facedown on the forest floor, a dull ache already beginning to throb against her temples.

Trina sat up and spat out leaves tasting the unwelcome flavor of blood in her mouth. _Stupid, ogre. Stupid, stupid._ She thought unable for the moment to string up a better insult in her mind. Trina quickly picked up her staff; she wasn't going to let Kaiya enjoy the rest of this fight without her.

Kaiya was doing much better than Trina had thought she would, faced with an ogre and having only those silly knives and daggers for a defense. The ogre was swinging at her much as it had Trina, but the only thing its arms came near to now were the blades of Kaiya's knives. Although knives weren't much of a deterrent to an Undead creature, it was still more effective than any plan Trina might have considered when facing an ogre head on.

Trina circled around the ogre letting Kaiya keep it occupied. She knew that Kaiya would begin to tire eventual and she wanted the ogre dealt with before that happened.

Finally Trina was facing the ogre's backside. Trina gagged at the mere sight of its skin, which was festering with maggots, which seemed to thrive in the loose and holey skin of the ogre's back. Its skull had a few chunks of hair still clinging to the few remaining bits of scalp, and Trina grimaced, when she realized her best plan was to climb the back of this beast.

Trina held her breath just the smell of this beast was making her gag, she paused taking one final semi-untainted breath and leapt onto the ogre, nearly dropping her staff in the process because of the awkward angle and because of the stink invading her nostrils. The ogre smelled worse than death.

Getting a good grip on her staff was difficult, considering she was riding and undead ogre, but she managed the best she could, angling the end of the staff over the top of the ogre's head, preparing to batter the back of its skull.

The ogre by that point seemed to have realized that something on its back and was trying to throw Trina off. Several times the staff slammed into the ogre's head without her having to lift a finger. She continued smashing the skull almost desperately, once she penetrated the stupid thing's skull this battle would be over in moments.

Finally after what felt like days shaking and half thrown from the ogre's back, but was truly only minutes, the already rotting skull collapsed inward, cracking along most of the remaining bone.

Trina could have cheered that it had gone so quickly but instead she could only express her disgust at the sight of the wormy brain. It was withered and colorless but it throbbed and pulsed with random strange beams of light. This ogre seemed to only be held together by the enchantment, but even with that the body still seemed to be quickly decomposing and Trina could only hope that that would work to her advantage.

"Ram my dagger into it!" Kaiya yelled tossing up one of her seemingly endless supply of knives and daggers. "The metal should negate the connection with the wizard."

Trina dropped her staff and caught the dagger one-handed, praying silently that this oaf of an ogre wouldn't step on it and break it. Then in one fluid motion she rammed the dagger deep into the pulsating withered mass. It started crumbling the instant the dagger touched it, and Trina was glad that Kaiya had known the correct way to cancel that particular spell.

Trina clutched the ogre instinctively around the neck as the ogre started to fall forward. She rolled off the ogre with a grunt. She hoped she never had to do that again.

Kaiya stood a few feet away chest heaving. She stepped up carefully to the ogre and drew her dagger from its now empty skull. She wiped the blade disgustedly in the grass.

Trina merely lay panting on the ground. She let the exhaustion sink in. This was tiring. Trina felt as if all she had been doing for weeks was fight for her life. She couldn't believe it had only been this morning that she'd almost been hung.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply letting herself relax as she sensed the animals returning.

Kaiya stood over Trina, who slowly opened her eyes as she sensed her presence, mostly because it completely blocked out the filtered sunlight that had been streaming down from the canopy.

"I think we need to leave, now." Kaiya's eyes were scanning the forest, almost anxiously.

Trina sat up wrapping her arms around her knees peacefully, "Why? We finished off the ogre; I hardly think we can have any more trouble in one day."

"It's too quiet." Kaiya said distractedly still can the trees, as she bit her lip anxiously and tugging on her hair.

"The animals are coming back though." Trina answered, scanning the forest excitedly. "I can sense them not far away. We're safe if the animals are back."

"Something doesn't feel right Trina. Call it my roguish instinct, but something doesn't feel right."

"Fine," Trina answered, if it would make Kaiya shut up to move she would. But only because Trina wanted to relax in some peace and quiet and she clearly wasn't going to get that here, because Kaiya was freaking about a feeling. Trina dusted herself off and went to retrieve her staff. "Where are we going to go O Intuitive One?" She asked sarcastically.

Kaiya huffed at Trina's mocking. "Anywhere but here. Frankly even if nothing comes, it's better to be away from where the wizard has sent his magic monster before. He could always send another when the first doesn't do its job."

Trina shrugged. "There's a lot of forest to explore, lead the way." She gestured to the forest invitingly.

"You're still mocking me." Kaiya crossed her arms angrily.

"The _peace_ of the forest makes me want to mock something. You're the only target I've got."

Kaiya snarled but was denied a retort by the sudden crash of menacing footsteps through the undergrowth. "I told you we had to leave." Kaiya said angrily. "Now RUN!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Run in with Death (again)

Trina jumped over another log in their mad dash. It seemed a little ridiculous that they were running when they had already beaten on of these stupid Undead ogres, but she had panicked and Kaiya had said to run, so they ran. She felt the exhaustion setting in; her body wasn't quite used to so much exertion at once. Trina could feel herself faltering every few strides and knew she wasn't going to be able to keep up the pace much longer.

Her breath was coming n short gasps when she stumbled. Now instead of running it was more of a fast limp.

Kaiya realized Trina couldn't go much further and let Trina lean against her to catch her breath. "Couldn't you just call horses or…something? You're a druid right, you've got the power to entice animals to you, don't you?" Kaiya asked only panting lightly as if she ran for her life all the time.

Trina rested her head on Kaiya's shoulder. "You've forgotten about Scales. He should be arriving sometime between now and the next century." Trina managed to get out sarcastically. Dragons were one of the hardest beings for her to control, but Scales was actually her friend so she couldn't understand why he always seemed to take his time coming to her.

Kaiya froze mid-eyeroll and her jaw dropped. "Uh, Trina we don't have until next century."

Trina looked up blearily, her eyes were beginning to fog up and she knew that she was on the verge of collapsing to the ground in a faint. "Why?" She asked as everything began to spin. Trina blinked trying desperately to focus. She couldn't give out now. "Hoovesister, Hoovebrother…we need help. Come quickly." The words hardly came out of her mouth, but her power carried them far and quickly.

Trina felt herself collapse as her eyes rolled her energy spent.

*

Trina realized drowsily that she felt as if she were being carried. She was still too tired to open her eyes, but she was grateful that Kaiya and been generous enough to carry her.

At the same time it felt as if it wasn't Kaiya carrying her though. The arms seemed too well-built and finely muscled to be a simple rogue's. It was almost as if she was being carried by a man, but that wasn't possible, because it had only been her and Kaiya.

The motion grew harder as if her carrier were running from something and once more Trina lost consciousness.

*

Trina opened her eyes blinking at the sudden brightness. When her eyes were adjusted, Trina focused on her surroundings. She blinked again just to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

The man's head stayed hovering in front of her. It had curly black hair and kind violet eyes. He had a kind smile that warmed his already kind face. "You are okay. That's a relief. I didn't know if you'd wake up."

Whoever this person was Trina needed answers. "What happened? Where's Kaiya? Who are you?"

The man chuckled a bright light twinkling in his eyes. "You might want Kaiya to explain the first question." _He has a beautiful voice._ Trina thought vaguely as she tried to pay attention to his words and not just his beautiful intonation and perfect white teeth. "I'm not sure of everything that happened after you summoned me. I got there as quickly as I could but I don't know what happened before I arrived. As to the second question Kaiya's over there sulking. I'm not entirely sure why. I think I possibly offended her, but I don't understand how, but then I've never been particularly good at delving into the minds of humans."

Trina blinked. _Humans?_

"Now as to who I am," He brushed some curly locks away from his eyes as if wondering where to begin.

Kaiya sauntered abruptly into Trina's vision, jabbing a finger at him, "This my friend is a centaur. Don't bother trying to pry an actual name out of him. Apparently its confidential or something equally vague and presumptuous."

Trina smiled it was good to her Kaiya annoyed again; she was actually rather funny whenever she tried to get angry. "Well O Mighty Thief and Rescuer of the Condemned, would you mind telling me what happened? I don't even know why there's a centaur here. Knowing that I think is more important than his name, at least for now."

Trina levered herself up onto her elbows, surprised she didn't feel sore as Kaiya sat casually cross-legged beside the centaur. "This…how's a nice way to put it? Butt, yes I like that, butt, appeared out of the bushes about ten seconds after you collapsed. He," Kaiya jabbed a thumb in the centaur's direction, "landed practically on top of the ogre I had spotted before your most impeccably timed swoon. I'd been crouching and drawing knives preparing to fight him, but the centaur solved that problem neatly enough." Kaiya took a deep breath before continuing. "Seeing he had squashed the ogre flat he simply ambled up to me asking if we needed assistance. I didn't trust this thing who had pound an entire ogre into the ground. I answered that I had never needed help at a time less than I did then."

Trina sniggered; there was Kaiya's funny anger again. "Kaiya you're full of it." She muttered.

Kaiya glared but continued her story, "This obsequious fool answered, 'none of that,' as if he actually knew anything about us. He proceeded to lift your body from its ungainly pose and told me to climb on him. The only reason I did was I felt you were my responsibility not this mad horse's."

"Obsequious means that you act a servant," Trina said softly trying to stifle the giggle in her throat. "Sounds to me that the centaur is very strong minded, not at all obedient like a servant," Trina flashed Kaiya one of her grins and Kaiya rolled her eyes.

The centaur smiled sheepishly at Trina and she winked in answer. She already liked him a lot. He had done so much better at upsetting Kaiya than she ever had. "The sulking makes sense now." Trina informed the centaur not even glancing at Kaiya anymore. "You see, Kaiya wanted a real horse, so naturally she would be disappointed that a centaur had answered my call rather than a horse.

The centaur rose suddenly and Trina was amazed at how quickly and gracefully he was able to manage it with four legs. "I almost forgot, a dragon landed in the next clearing and keeps asking after you."

"Scales," Trina was on her feet in an instant. She was definitely ready to see her dragon again.

Kaiya grabbed Trina's arm before she could rush away. "Trina are you sure can trust that nameless beast?" Her head jerked her head at the centaur. "It could be some other dragon, a black dragon…"

Trina plucked Kaiya's hand off her shoulder meaningfully, "If you're so worried Savor of the Condemned come with me and you can rescue me if anything goes wrong." Trina headed in the direction the centaur had indicated without a backward glance.

Kaiya seemed to hesitate for a moment, but was at Trina's side before she reached the clearing. Kaiya started pleading actually pulling at Trina's clothing. "Trina think about what you're doing."

"I have thought." Trina replied coolly. "I want to see my dragon."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Scales and Shadows

Trina smiled as she felt the waves of dragonfear drifting from the clearing. Dragonfear was the easiest way for a dragon to immobilize its enemies but Trina had never had a problem with it. She could have walked into a dragon's nest and not stumble a single step. Occasionally it would slow her steps but it never stopped them altogether.

Kaiya on the other hand seemed powerless in the face of the dragonfear, crouched and clutching her gut at the edge of the clearing. But she probably hadn't even experienced it before. Most people didn't have that bad of a reaction unless it was their first time up against the dragonfear.

"I've arrived Mistress! I've answered your call." Scales' bell-like tones rang through the clearing before Trina had even spotted the beast. He'd always had a special sense for her presence though, which was probably why he had managed to arrive at the clearing rather than back where she had actually called him.

"My dear Scalion," Trina whispered. She brushed past the last few trees wanting to run, stopped only by the slight hint of dragonfear in the air.

"Mistress!" Scales called with glee.

Trina could finally see her dragon, her golden dragon. She practically sprinted up to him and rubbed her face against his warm scales.

Scales let out a loud rumble which was as close as a dragon could get to purring. "Mistress."

Trina grinned at the familiar hiss as he said his favorite word, "I missed you."

Kaiya stumbled into the clearing with about as much balance as a drunkard. "Do dragons always hiss like that?"

"This one does," Trina gave her dragon a fond pat.

Kaiya's face paled and she looked as if she were going to become sick. "Why…?" She murmured just before she collapsed to the ground, her inexperience with dragonfear had caused her to faint.

Trina sighed. "Scales darling, fly home tell Mentor I'm coming back. I don't want to have to bring Kaiya fainting every few feet because of your presence."

Scales rubbed briefly against Trina. "Yes Mistress."

...

It was the next morning by the time Kaiya regained consciousness. "Ugh…" She groaned. "I hurt like someone beat my head with a hammer."

"Breakfast?" Trina asked cheerfully from the fire where she seemed to be cooking eggs.

Kaiya sat up, her breath emitted once more as a groan.

Trina made sympathetic noises, she could remember the first weeks after Scales had hatched, even if the reaction had faded, she could still remember how difficult it had been.

"Your surprise should be arriving today."  
Kaiya stared, for a moment. "It's not going to be another dragon is it?" She asked peevishly.

"Not telling." Trina answered grinning, "That's the whole point of a surprise."

Kaiya scowled. "Fine. Be that way." She turned away and began rummaging through her pack.

"Hoovebrother," Trina called, turning her attention away from the peeved rogue.

"Yes druid?" Hoovebrother asked in a cool tone, that was surprisingly endearing to Trina's ears.

"Do you want some eggs?" Trina rattled the skillet enticingly.

Hooverbrother shuddered. "The thought disgusts me. Plants are my meals."

Unable to resist any longer, Trina returned her attention to Kaiya, "What are you looking for in that bag of weapons anyways?"

"Something edible." Kaiya answered distractedly, as she continued to rummage through what seemed to be entirely an assortment of knives and daggers.

"But I made eggs." Trina pointed out.

Kaiya shrugged.

_Have it your way._ Trina thought in annoyance and began munching on an egg.

A long moment passed, suddenly something huge and black leapt into the clearing. Standing before them, shivers quivering up and down its legs was an enormous black horse. His hooves looked as dangerous as one of Kaiya's knives and even appeared to be made of iron, his eyes faintly glowed red.

Kaiya stared, before standing approaching the beast like on in a trance. "Who is this magnificent creature?" She asked her void nearly devoid of emotion, which Trina thought meant Kaiya was truly impressed.

"This," Trina answered in a hushed tone, "is Shadow, Master of the Forest. He's going to be your mount to take you up the mountain."

Kaiya turned away, her trance finally broken. "What about you? What are you going to ride?"

"A more appropriate question would be _who._" Hoovebrother interjected. "Trina will be riding me and you can ride…that." He gestured indifferently towards the stallion.

Kaiya scowled. "Excuse me, but arrogant as you are, you wouldn't last one minute in a race against a proper stallion." Kaiya ran a hand along the horse's side proudly.

"This is your first encounter with it, and you already trust it to win races? How foolhardy." Hoovebrother answered snorting. "Trina climb on, let's see how fast that ignorant beast of burden really is."

Giggling softly, Trina climbed onto Hoovebrother's back. Kaiya obligingly leapt onto Shadow's back. She tangled her hands tightly in his mane.

Hoovebrother reared suddenly; instinctively Trina wrapped her arms around his human waist. Shadow began prancing, as if anticipating the race.

As Hoovebrother's hooves touched the ground they leap into motion.

The race had begun.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Racing

Trina felt Hoovebrother's muscles beating out the rhythm of his hooves on the forest floor. She threw back her head and laughed, this was the most carefree she had ever felt.

...

They were sitting before a fire, all was quiet as the two girls daydreamed about their steeds and the race they had been in earlier that day. At the end of the day neither of them had seemed to need to rest, but it was usually best not to go careening wildly about forests after dark.

"Kaiya," Trina began softly, watching the flickering firelight play across her companion's features.

"What?" Kaiya's answer lacked its usual snap racing seemed to have relaxed her to a less cranky personality.

"Do you think we'll reach the Vingaards by tomorrow?" Trina felt a little silly asking as they were returning to her home, but she'd never been particularly good at judging distance from the back of a horse, or in this case centaur.

Kaiya leaned back staring at the stars peeking through the canopy. "Considering the progress we made today, I'd be surprised if we didn't. I'd expect to be there before the sun sets at the latest."

Trina continued to stare at the flames, quickly becoming lost in thought.

...

"Do you see the mountains?" Trina called over the pounding of Hoovebrother's hooves.

The centaur glanced up at the snowy peaks that loomed through breaks in the canopy. "Trina are the Vingaards truly so small?"

Trina patted his flank humoringly. "Just wait until we're climbing them, they won't seem so small then."

Kaiya voice rose over the beat of the race, "Do you think we should stop here?"

"You're not afraid of the big scary mountains are you?" Trina teased.

"Of course not. It just seemed to me that Hoovebrother was beginning to lag." Kaiya retorted.

"You're just worried since Shadow's falling behind."

"Prove it." Kaiya snapped.

Both mounts had slowed to a walk by this point, recognizing the anticipation and conserving what they could for the race ahead.

"What should the stakes be Kaiya?"

"Hmm...we have so little to offer each other." Kaiya's eyes glinted.

Hoovebrother rose abruptly on his hind legs, forcing Trina to clutch rather awkwardly at his human torso. "Would you just get on with it woman? I can't abide waiting."

Shadow snorted in agreement.

Kaiya patted Shadow's neck. "Don't worry boy, this is going to be great."

"Kaiya all of us are getting impatient, do you have terms in mind for a wager or not?"

Kaiya chuckled. "If you keep this up you'll be flapping your arms around like a flightless bird in no time."

Trina jabbed an angry finger at the rogue. "Unless you tell me right now, I'll call my dragon."

Kaiya gulped audibly, but quickly regained her usual steel. "The stakes of this race are my services to you."

"Interesting, if you were going to complain about doing this I would have expected it sooner." Trina watched Kaiya for a moment, "However I don't think the stakes are quite high enough if I win."

"And what do you propose?" Kaiya answered coolly.

"You ride Hoovebrother for a day if you lose."

"You want me to ride that _cow_ for a whole day?"

"I think all of us are quite aware that Hoovebrother is not a cow." Trina retorted calmly.

"Are we going to race or not?" Hoovebrother interjected. "You shouldn't raise my hopes falsely."

Trina rested her hand on Hoovebrother's flank. "As long as Kaiya doesn't chicken out now the stakes are laid, you will get your race."

Kaiya scowled, before pressing her heels into Shadow's side. "Let's go." She called as her mount leapt forward.

Trina wrapped her arms around Hoovebrother's human half as he flew into motion as well. His arms clasped onto hers tightly as a means to help keep her on his back.

The race had begun again.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Contention

"We're almost to the base Trina."

Trina dragged her thoughts away from the feeling of riding a centaur, to attend to what he was telling her. The mountain rose directly before them, she tingled with the anticipation of almost being home.

"Do you still think the mountains are small, Hoovebrother?"

Hoovebrother grunted noncommittally.

"Come on admit it," Trina prodded, in a teasing mood, "You'd never been to a mountain before today, had you?"

Hoovebrother trumpeted like a horse, "Do you think me a mere wild beast, bound to a solitary territory?" He snorted. "I am not such a one as Shadow, it would come as unsurprising if he shied away from the mountain's shadow."

Trina chuckled, "When do you think we'll be seeing Shadow again?"

"Shadow might never show up." Hoovebrother answered seriously.

"Funny centaur." A familiar snapping voice struck out from behind them.

Hoovebrother whipped around. "I am amazed Shadow has actually arrived at the base of the mountain."

Kaiya leapt off her horse and stalked towards Hoovebrother, furious.

As calm as Kaiya was furious Trina climbed off Hoovebrother and approached. "You'd better not be thinking of insulting the centaur, he's going to be your steed as of tomorrow.

Kaiya's mouth moved soundlessly, the fury on her face, remaining fixed, and apparently barely under control.

Hoovebrother placed his hand on Trina's shoulder. She jumped slightly surprised as his breath brushed against her ear. "I'd rather if you didn't ride Shadow tomorrow, I don't fancy it would be pleasant to have that pig on my back with some sort of guard, even with I imagine it will still come out to be a very long day."

Trina sighed. "Alright, I suppose it can't be helped." She turned her attention and her voice to Kaiya, "Enjoy your last few hours with Shadow, you're probably not going to even _see_ much of him tomorrow." She didn't wait for a response. It was time to start setting up camp.

...

"I can't believe I agreed to do this." Kaiya muttered angrily; she'd been producing variations of the complaint for the last few hours.

Trina shrugged. "It's not my fault you were too cocky to consider that to stay as far away as possible from Hoovebrother's head.

Kaiya and Hoovebrother sighed in unison at this statement. Neither one of them was particularly pleased with how the day was progressing so far and it wasn't looking as if it were going to get any better.

"I wish today was already over." Kaiya complained.

Trina snorted. "You just like complaining."

"Why did you pick this anyways? My reward for winning at least made sense. We don't know each other; we could have parted ways without me doing anything for you and no harm done, but this? Why this?" Kaiya snarled, her anger mounting. "It's torture!" She shrieked the last two words, causing birds to startle and take to the air with much flapping and screeching of their own.

"Think you could be any louder?" Hoovebrother grumbled grumpily.

Trina patted Hoovebrother's curly head. "You two are impossible."

"You're the one who wanted to put us all through this." Kaiya whined, though she was trying to put all the blame on Trina.

"Shut up, Kaiya, you're giving me a headache. You could have refused the terms, so don't try to make this all my fault." Trina pointed out.

Kaiya did manage to keep her mouth shut, but unfortunately it only lasted for a few seconds. "Can we take a break soon?" She begged. "It's got to be nearly lunch time."

"You have food in your pack." Trina answered resolutely as she wasn't sure that Kaiya would get back on Hoovebrother if they took a break for lunch.

She could feel Kaiya's scowling boring into the back of her head, but a few moments later, Trina could hear her frustrated munching, so she put aside her worries and enjoyed the silence.

Eventually Kaiya finished eating.

"This is boring," She announced. "I thought you two were excellent conversationalists. Why are you so quiet now?"

"Because you're here." Hoovebrother answered meanly.

Kaiya drew breath sharply. "Why you useless mule!" She shouted once she had her breath back.

"Both of you shut up!" Trina screeched in annoyance. "I don't want to hear another word about it. It is what it is, the day will be over soon enough and then you don't have deal with each other ever again. So look forward to that."

They both grumbled but managed to keep mostly silent for the rest of the day.


End file.
